Syria, Turkey join calls for free Gaza

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad (C) walks with Lebanese
Prime Minister Saad Hariri (R) and Turkish Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu after a meeting in Damascus July 19, 2010


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=135506§ionid=351020206


Syria and Turkey have called for further action to end Israel's siege of Gaza and examine its deadly attack on a civilian aid convoy bound for the blockaded territory.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu issued a joint statement on Monday, urging greater international pressure on Tel Aviv to remove its crippling blockade of the populated Gaza Strip, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The call comes while years of Israeli movement restrictions have left half of the 1.5 million Palestinians residing in the Gaza Strip depending on food aid handouts.

Following a meeting in Damascus which also included Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the Syrian and Turkish officials also emphasized the importance of reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions and condemned foreign interventions in the internal affairs of the regional states.

They also called for "additional, reinforced efforts" for an international and independent inquiry into Israel's May 31 attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla which killed nine Turkish nationals and wounded some 50 others on the civilian aid fleet as it was in international waters.

Despite a widespread outrage across the globe and repeated condemnations from the international community, Israel — backed by the United States — has managed to resist calls for an international investigation into the deadly attack.

Assad and Davutoglu further blamed the Israeli regime's policies for the stalled peace talks in the Middle East region.

Earlier, Assad called Ankara "Syria's greatest hope" as a mediator in peace talks with Israel, saying that "other countries can play only a supportive role, not an alternative one."

Turkey mediated four rounds of indirect talks between Damascus and Tel Aviv in 2008 over an ongoing dispute resulting form the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights since 1967. But the negotiations ran aground after Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip which killed over 1,400 Palestinians in the region.

The chances of peace are widely viewed as growing slim as tensions grow between Turkey and Israel over the latter's Flotilla attack, what Ankara calls "a terrorist act" but Israeli officials defend as an "act of self-defense."